Written by K. Reka Badger and Marty Olmstead, with photography by Robert Holmes, The 5th edition of The California Directory of Fine Wineries navigates the country lanes of Northern California’s wine country in Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino. In an area rich with wine tasting experiences, it’s a challenge choosing the right wineries to visit. With full-page profiles of 68 Northern California wineries and a full-page photograph representing each winery, boomer travelers will have no problem devising a wine tasting itinerary to suit their tastes.

Each winery profile describes the history and geography of the property, as well as discussing the types of wine produced. Sidebars include contact information, owner’s name, location, appellation, hours of operation, cost for tastings, wines produced, specialties, winemaker, annual production plus special notes and information on nearby attractions.

For baby boomers who need to brush up on wine tasting etiquette, there’s a page for that. And after reading, “What Is An Appellation?”, I now know that if the label says Russian River Valley, then 85% of the wine is made from that area (appellation).

Flipping through the pages of The California Directory of Fine Wineries will certainly rev up your travel planning motor. It did mine. Alan and I are big sparkling wine fans so we’ve added Mumm Napa and Gloria Ferrer Caves & Vineyards in Sonoma to our list for the next visit to Northern California wine country. And since none of the wineries that we visited on our last trip made it into the book, we have 68 wineries to explore.

Would you like to win a copy of The California Directory of Fine Wines? To enter, just post a comment at the end of this post telling us which area you would visit: Napa, Sonoma or Mendocino. Please include your email address for contact purposes. Contest ends on Thursday, May 19, 2011 at 11:00 p.m. Arizona Mountain Standard Time. Winner will be announced as soon as possible. Remember, according to our general contest rules, the winner must be a U.S. resident and respond within 48 hours of receiving the notification email; or we chose another winner.

Disclosure: Wine House Press provided a copy of The California Directory of Fine Wineriess for my review. They are also providing a copy of the book to the winner of our contest.

I have included an Amazon Link to The California Directory of Fine Wineries for your convenience. However My Itchy Travel Feet does receive a small percentage for purchases made at Amazon.com.

UPDATE: May 19, 2011 at 11:01 p.m: this contest has expired. As soon as the winner acknowledges receipt of my email, I’ll make the announcement.